New Hogan Dam DGC plays on a couple of hills overlooking popular New Hogan Reservoir with dotted oaks, small granite outcroppings, and lots of grass. Many holes afford views of the lake and boat launch, as well as the surrounding area.
The pictures show a wonderful green grassy course, but keep in mind that if you visit in the summertime, this all becomes long brown grass and fox tails, with quite a bit of dust. We actually thought it would be unplayable due to the grass but there was about a 20 foot wide median that was mowed throughout the course...as long as you can stay on the fairway you don't have to worry about the weeds. We had minimal 'shoe picking' afterwards.
The main source of challenge for this course is definitely use of the terrain, elevation is present on almost every hole. The scraggy trees define the rest of the fairway, and hitting any of them will almost certainly knock your disc down...no 'local routes' here
We did not have the opportunity to play the 9 newer unsigned holes due to time constraints, but they look like they were longer than the original 18, which is good because the majority of the main course played 250-350 feet and a few longer holes are certainly welcome.
I recall enjoying the 2nd half of the course a bit more...the front meandered around on a hill and had some great shots, but they were just kinda missing some 'oomph' and were really easy to par. The back half was a bit more secluded and had more variety involving the cool rock features of the area.
Signature hole #17 is awesome. The tee plays at the top of a large open hill and shoots directly toward the lake. The pin was off to the left, on a rocky outcropping between the lake and the parking lot. The lake is far enough away that you can basically try to throw your disc into it without any fear of it actually going in. The unobstructed shot and view toward the lake was certainly unique and a nice 'closer' to the course. Hole 18 was a bit of a walk away and in my opinion, defines 'filler hole.'
I would love to get back to this course when the grass is green because the pictures make it look truly majestic. As mentioned before this is not the case in the summertime, pretty much everything looked dead along the course which created kind of a weird, quiet, 'get the job done' vibe. That's fine with me though, golf is golf, and while fun, the course wasn't anything special and unless it's on the way to or from another destination, it's probably not worth veering off the 99 for specifically.